Summary: Socioeconomic Inequalities In Lung Cancer

Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s “Unequal Treatment Report” in 2002, highlighting the startling but harsh truths behind these health care differences, there has been a renewed interest in understanding the sources of these inconsistencies, with any seeking to identify contributing factors in hopes of creating an effective solution in reducing or eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care

These disparities are obvious in some key measures of wellbeing including life expectancy, the risk for disease, and access to health care (Disparities in Health, 2015). Historically, the major factors contributing to shorter longevity and high rates of disease are overcrowding, poor sanitation and low availability of treatment facilities. However, the change of theses socioeconomic

Declining cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have continued through the first decade of the twenty-first century. However, Black Americans continue to have the higher cancer mortality rates and shorter survival times. This review discusses and compares only breast and prostate cancer mortality rates and mortality trends for Blacks and Whites. The complex relationship between socioeconomic status and race and its contribution to racial cancer disparities is discussed.

In looking on the subject of race you realize there is a racial stigma when it comes to health care. The American health care system is geared to treat the majority, while the minority suffers. As one looks at the African American society we see the racial discrimination in the health care system. According to the American heart association, “African Americans are 28% more likely

As populations around the world continue to grow, it becomes more evident that health services provided worldwide are not growing at the same rate and instead will continue to put further strain on existing health disparities, and create new ones. In the United States alone, access to healthcare is a crucial topic of discussion principally as the American government continues to create initiatives and legislation such as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Although, the United States has come a long way to legally create access to care to all its citizens, there is a disparity in the number of individuals that in actuality receive healthcare due to the geography of cities and the nation.

Race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic position are social determinants that lead to disparities in healthcare. Despite declining death rates, African Americans have consistently had higher mortality rates than Whites. For example, breast cancer is more prevalent in whites however the incidence of mortality from breast cancer is higher in black women. Black women are also likely to have more advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis than their White peers. Williams (2002) proposes that racial categories are more alike than different in terms of biological characteristics and genetics. Furthermore, they do not capture patterns of genetic variation. Thus, it is not biologically reasonable for genetic differences alone to play a major role

Health disparities in populations and population subgroups deal with differences in overall health and the spread of disease and death (Almgren, 2013). There are several characteristics of a population or subgroup that make them more vulnerable to disparities in health and healthcare. These include race, ethnicity, sex, age, education, income, employment, and geographic location among other characteristics. Many of which are linked to social inequality within communities. On the other hand, healthcare disparities include access to care, quality of care, equity, and health care outcomes (Almgren, 2013, p.243). Disparities in both categories can be explained by the social determinants of health that affect many people’s health status and include environmental factors present in communities (Patel & Rushefsky,2014). All these factors are interrelated and seem to affect minority and low-income groups more disproportionately. Meyer et.al. (2013), use the World Health Organizations explanation of social determinants of health as being “mostly responsible for health inequities—the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries” (p. 3). This explanation is applicable to communities and population groups within the U.S. as

“Health disparity: A higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality experienced by one population group relative to another group” ("Disparities in Health," 2012, para. 7). There are many factors which contribute to the disparities in health among certain groups here in the United States. The low income populations seem to be at the greatest risk when it comes to health inequality. Whether this is due to lack of education, access to services, or even neighborhood safety, the divide between the higher income populations and that of lower income populations are growing at an alarming

Health disparities are not based on income but on location. In Chicago, health disparities are a major problem because of segregation. While, on the Northside, someone is less likely to experience health disparities, it’s different on the South and West Sides. When someone looks at a map, they do not see how segregated a city is, but when someone is analyzing a certain neighborhood in Chicago, they will be able to see how segregated the city is. A study shows how neighborhoods in

Findings in a report with dates from 1975-2003 reported “data on socioeconomic status (SES), behavioral risk factors, and cancer screening by race, ethnicity, and Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban groups”2. Not having access to healthcare is one of the leading factors of why cancer rates among the Hispanic/Latino population is so high. In fact, “Latinos are less likely than non-Latinos to have health care coverage, especially when they are younger than 65 years”2 because of their income. And “Hispanic persons are much less likely to have a regular source of medical care than are non-Hispanic populations, with Latino men being the least likely”2. “Access to state-of-the-art, quality cancer care is known to be unequal and to exacerbate existing disparities in cancer outcomes”2 which is unfair and

In today’s society, medical advances in technology have provided people living in the United States with the potential to live longer and healthier lives compared to before. However, there are a health disparity that exits between different racial and ethnic populations and health equity remains intangible. Health disparities refer to the incidence, prevalence, mortality and burden of disease and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific populations in the Unites States. It is relates to the inequality in insurance coverage, educations, quality of care, income, socioeconomic status and limited access to health services. Characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, SES, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, geographic location and other characteristics are linked to exclusive or discrimination influencing health status.

Defining inequality can range across a massive scope, however, the specific inequalities amongst classes of wealth in America are the beginning of a shocking chain reaction. Individuals in different regions of Louisville were analyzed, comparing their wealth to their health. As expected, those living in richer neighborhoods with higher-paying jobs had the most access to frequent health care, healthy meals, and other better lifestyle habits. Thus, a statistic that stuck out to me began to make sense; “If a poor person’s smoking, he or she has a higher rate of disease than if a wealthy person is smoking” (Adelman, 2008). Though smoking is damaging, it varies in levels of damage depending on the class of the person smoking, and this left me curious as to if other variances of things

In the article “In Cancer Trials, Minorities Face Extra Hurdles,” Al Drago illustrates how minorities are institutionally discriminated against. Drago gives several reasons why cancer trials are disproportionately white, how researchers are aware of this inequality and trying to correct the problem. One and perhaps the biggest

In America, demographics show that the world is changing. According to a 2000 Census data, 25 percent of the United States population is composed of minority ethnic groups, which has continually increased over the years (Egede, 2006). As the United States continues to become more diverse there will be an increased need to establish validity and reliability across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups (Egede, 2006). Many racial and ethnic groups are continually impacted by the burden of disease, due to socioeconomic status, health between the population, access to quality health care, and environmental factors (Egede, 2006). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) on Unequal Treatment states that “a large majority of research shows that racial and ethnic minorities experience a lower quality of health services, and are less likely to receive routine medical procedures” (Egede, 2006). Minorities may be less likely to receive the preventative care they need due to a poor relationship with their

Socioeconomic inequalities in receipt of lung cancer treatment have been observed. Researchers have studies participants with a leading diagnosis of lung cancer, where the outcome was odd of treatment and where the outcome was reported by a measure of SEP (Socioeconomic Position). Further investigation is required to determine the patient, tumor, clinician, and system factors that may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in receipt of